January 29, 2015
- Millionaire Chess has announced that the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa
(KCFA) will organize three Millionaire Chess satellite tournaments in Africa in
2015. The three events will form part of Millionaire Chess' Global Satellite
Program that awards winners of locally run chess tournaments an automatic
qualification spot to play in the 2nd Millionaire Chess Open, scheduled
to be held in Las Vegas from October 8 - 12, 2015. The prize fund of the
event is $1,000,000, the highest purse for any Open chess tournament in the
world.

"Millionaire Chess is thrilled to be working with the KCFA
to support their mission of bringing exciting chess opportunities to players in
Africa," said Maurice Ashley, the first African-American International
Grandmaster and Partner at Millionaire Chess. "We believe that events such as
these are essential to raising the level of chess awareness worldwide."

Graham Jurgensen, the Executive Director of KCFA, welcomed
the collaboration and praised the team at Millionaire Chess for their
willingness to support emerging players from Africa. He explained that
opportunities to participate in events of this nature are rare in Africa as the
costs of international participation often prove to be prohibitive for many of
the continents best players. "We are delighted to partner with the team at
Millionaire Chess, and we look forward to watching the continents best players
fight it out for this unique
opportunity."

The 13th World Chess Champion, GM Garry Kasparov, has also endorsed the
relationship by stating

"I
am happy that the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa can work with the organizers
of such a prestigious event as the Millionaire Chess Open to bring an amazing
opportunity to players in Africa. These Millionaire Chess satellite
events represent just another one of the many significant partnerships that the
KCF network is building around the world to promote the game of chess." - GM
Garry Kasparov

The three satellite tournaments will be held in South Africa, Nigeria
and Kenya before the end of August 2015. The final dates, schedules and venues
for the three separate events will be announced in the forthcoming weeks.
Updated information will be found at https://millionairechess.com/satellite-program as well as
on the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KCFAfrica)